What do professors do all day, anyway?

For some time now I have been meaning to post something on the tricky question of what exactly it is that professors do. Lo and behold, many, many other academics have also felt the need to justify themselves. So, I offer some links to others’ answers to the often-asked question:

• What Does a Professor Do All Day, Anyway?: Edward L. Ayers is a historian who gave the following acceptance speech when he won the “Teacher of the Year” award at the University of Virginia in 1993.
• What do Professors do all day?: Kirsten Silva Gruesz teaches literature at the University of California Santa Cruz.
• What Does A Finance Professor Do All Day? — Part 1 (Teaching) / Part 2 (Research)
• My Response To A Thoughtful Acadia Professor On Strike: blog post that addresses what professors do; read the comments as well.
• What professors do: Paul Cohen teaches Computer Science and Carole Beal teaches Psychology at the University of Massachusetts. This account describes heavy research agendas in a period of cutbacks.
• What you do all day: Inside Higher Ed: synopsis of a study of how faculty in different sorts of institutions use their time, with interesting comments.
• Background Characteristics, Work Activities, and Compensation of Instructional Faculty and Staff: Fall 2003: “This publication is the second from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04), a study of faculty and instructional staff in public and private not-for-profit 2-year-and-above postsecondary institutions in the United States.”
• Just WHAT does a college professor DO?: David Simpson teaches Psychology.
• A post from Dr. Virago, a medievalist, in which she addresses the academic class system.
• How professors spend their time: University of Cincinnati Magazine
• The 24/7 Professor: What to do when home is just another word for the office: Piper Fogg for The Chronicle of Higher Education

I would add some caveats: institutions vary in their organization, cultures and expectations. Almost all these texts are written in a U.S. context, and there are national differences. There are also significant differences between disciplines, and between various sorts of positions (tenure-tract, contract) within the same institution and discipline. These pieces mainly address the tenure-track. That being said, commonalities emerge. Most of these writers detail a plethora of duties and activities.

To which can be added, making lists.